Focusing on the gentle rumble of the bus in motion helped set Dipper Pines' mind at ease. While most of the eight-hour bus trip from Piedmont, California to Gravity Falls, Oregon had been uneventful, the final leg of the trip pitted the coach liner against heavy snowfall and windy county roads. It wasn't like Dipper had never seen snow before, but it wasn't something he was overly familiar with. Hopefully, he thought, the bus driver didn't feel the same way.
Curled up next to Dipper in the aisle seat was his twin sister Mabel Pines. Wrapped in a Technicolor, oversized sweater she knitted herself and her face covered by her long brown hair, the usually exuberant twin had been lulled to sleep by the motion of the bus. He wasn't surprised. For the Pines twins, the eight-hour journey began at 4 am - a necessity to avoid the Bay Area rush hour traffic. Dipper was used to running on little sleep. Mabel not so much.
However, his anxiety over the weather and lack of sleep wouldn't damper his spirits. He was almost back in the small Oregon town he and Mabel had explored throughout the previous summer. They had made lifelong friends, uncovered fantastic and unbelievable secrets about Gravity Falls, and even saved the world from certain destruction. It was hard for him to put into words, but the town gave Dipper a feeling he wasn't used to. A feeling he only felt glimpses of in moments when he and Mabel banded together against a world that didn't quite understand them. A feeling of belonging.
Leaving behind that feeling at the end of the summer had been painful for Dipper. Mabel missed Gravity Falls too, of course, and she did her best to try and keep the spirit of summer alive for her brother. But home wasn't the same. And after months of begging, the Pines' parents finally relented and allowed them to spend their winter break back in Oregon.
Dipper reached underneath his seat for his backpack and rifled around inside blindly for a moment until he found his stack of postcards. Before leaving Gravity Falls, he had made it clear to his friends and family that he wanted to keep in touch as much as possible until he and Mabel could come back. Since he shared a cell phone with Mabel, it was the best way to keep his correspondence private, even if he really didn't have a reason to hide them.
At the top of the stack was a card with the signature question mark of the Mystery Shack, the tourist trap he and Mabel lived in over the summer. Flipping the card over, he couldn't mistake the large, blocky letters for anyone's handwriting but his friend Soos.
"9/15/12
Sup dude. Missing you and Mabel here at the Shack. It's been weird without you two around. Not weird like the cool kind when you were chasing monsters and stuff, just like, a sad weird. Oh, Melody lives here now, so that's cool. Would love for you dudes to come up for Halloween.
Your friend, Soos
P.s., the Stans are back in town! Write them cards too!"
Unfortunately, Halloween fell on a Wednesday that year, making it impossible for Dipper and Mabel to make even a quick trip for the holiday. Given that Gravity Falls was a town that loved Halloween so much that they threw a second Halloween in the summer, being unable to take part served as just another reminder of what they were missing out on by living in Piedmont.
Dipper flipped to the next card, displaying an Alaskan arctic outpost.
"9/22/12
Greetings Dipper,
Stan and I have just returned from an incredible trip to the Arctic in search of cryptids. We tracked one for days in an attempt to document it, but even when I was confident I had a perfect photo, the results came back blurry. My hypothesis is the cryptid family has a mutation that allows them to distort light waves to prevent being captured on film. However, Stan seems to think I was just cold and my shivering blurred the photos. I guess we'll need to investigate the local cryptids further once you're back.
Study hard, we'll be here!
Ford"
Underneath Ford's card was a postcard featuring Gravity Falls' water tower, though the image on the card was drawn on with a permanent marker to add what looked like a muffin to the side of the iconic structure. Definitely Wendy's sense of humor. He absently ran his hand up to his hair, hiding underneath the bomber cap she had traded him for the pine tree baseball cap he had worn through the summer.
"10/10/12
Yo Dipper,
Really sorry it's taken me so long to write. The Northwests hired my dad to clear timber off some new land they bought, so I've been busy helping him out when I'm not at school. They keep vaguely saying they've got a surprise for the town, and they're NOT evil laughing when they say that, so cautiously optimistic?
Though if something weird does turn up, they already know who to call. The rest of the gang says hey!
See you soon bro,
Wendy"
While Dipper knew Wendy was strong and capable, he had also worked with her at the Mystery Shack and saw firsthand her lax attitude towards work. The idea of the laid back teenager cutting down trees between class work was hard for him to believe, but then again, he imagined it was harder to ignore orders from Manly Dan than ones from Stan Pines.
Speaking of, Dipper didn't even need to see the handwriting on the next card to know it was from his Grunkle Stan. The postcard was actually just a mail-in subscription card from Gold Chains for Old Men magazine with the original return address scribbled out.
"10/19/12
Hey kid, hope school isn't too boring after saving the world and junk. If it is, you can always hitchhike your way up here. Ford and I have been crashing at McGucket's mansion. What a crazy world.
Your Grunkle Stan"
The final card in his pile was the one that had kicked off the entire winter trip. The image on the card was an illustration of a beautiful lodge at the top of a snowy hill, with blocky font underneath that declared SKI GRAVITY FALLS!
Turning the card over revealed the careful and flowing handwriting of Pacifica Northwest. Oddly enough, out of all the friends Dipper had written to in Gravity Falls, Pacifica was the one who wrote back the fastest and the most often, making the young heiress his most reliable tether to the goings-on in town.
"11/20/12
Hi Dipper!
I really appreciate the postcards we've been sharing back and forth these past few months. It's been a weird time for my family, and you've been a good friend. That means a lot to me.
Anyway, I've got something amazing to share! My father wouldn't let me tell you until everything was official but… We opened a ski resort in Gravity Falls! The season just started today with the last big snowstorm we had up here. Maybe you'll finally be jealous of our weather, instead of me wishing I was in California!
Speaking of, what are you doing for winter break? You and Mabel should come back to Gravity Falls and see our new resort! It'll be totally fun, really. Do you know how to ski? If not, I can teach you.
Let me know if you can make it!
Warm regards,
Pacifica Northwest"
Next to Dipper, Mabel began to groan and stir. "Ugh, my mouth tastes like sawdust," she declared to no one in particular, stretching out her arms. Her sweater featured simple illustrations of herself and Dipper playing in the snow, the sight of which made Dipper smile to himself. Despite the friction that their differing personalities could create at times, Dipper always knew he could rely on Mabel to bring joy to his life. And in turn, Mabel knew she could always rely on Dipper to save the day, no matter if the issue was of global significance or just a heinous party foul. "We've got to be almost there, right?"
"I'm not sure, Mabel," Dipper replied, turning back to the window, it's been nothing but snow and trees for a while now."
Mabel pulled their shared cell phone out of a pocket in her sweater (one of three pockets, the presence of which she showed off to anyone who even glanced at her sweater). Pulling up a directions app on the phone, she quickly identified that the bus was twenty minutes out from Gravity Falls. "We'll be there in no time!"
"That's a relief," said Dipper, "There's only so long you can be entertained by the weird billboards in the middle of nowhere. Oh, wait!"
As if on cue, the bus passed a billboard featuring Soos, in full Mr. Mystery garb, inviting travelers to take stop in Gravity Falls to see the Mystery Shack.
"Good for Soos, he looks great up there," said Mabel. She turned back to the phone in her hands, paging through notifications that came in while she had been napping. "Hey Dipper?"
"Hmmm?"
"Look at this." Mabel handed the phone to Dipper, the screen displaying the messages received in the past few hours.
MISSED CALL: GRUNKLE STAN
MISSED CALL: GRUNKLE STAN
GRUNKLE STAN: you kids on a late bus or something?
GRUNKLE STAN: getting tired
MISSED CALL: GRUNKLE STAN
CANDY: Mabel, are you here yet? I cannot wait to see you!
GRUNKLE STAN: sorry kids, falling asleep. can't pick you up.
Dipper looked at his watch. It was only 4 p.m.
Outside the window, the snow showed no signs of stopping before they arrived at the roadside bus stop, several miles away from the actual town or anywhere they could take shelter.
"Seriously, Grunkle Stan?" muttered Dipper. It wasn't that their Grunkle was a bad or neglectful man. He just sometimes made poor choices that didn't consider the feelings of others. Not to mention, it was winter, and the sky was already significantly darker than it had been an hour ago. At least, that's how Dipper imagined Mabel was justifying things. After all the time he spent desperately wishing he was in Gravity Falls, he couldn't help but feel a bit slighted by Grunkle Stan leaving them without a ride.
The phone buzzed in Dipper's hand, accompanied by a bar from the Sev'ral Timez hit "Gurl (You Got A Text)" set as the ringtone.
WENDY: Were you two supposed to get here today?
Dipper quickly texted back. Mabel smirked at his promptness, prompting Dipper to blurt out "We're just friends, Mabel."
MYSTERY TWINS HOTLINE: This is Dipper. Bus has been running late. We were supposed to get picked up by Grunkle Stan but he fell asleep.
"You've said that before, but we'll see," said Mabel, slyly narrowing her eyes and continuing to smirk with reckless abandon.
"Also, since when is this the Mystery Twins Hotline?"
"Uh, since always?"
Another buzz and harmonized Sev'ral Timez clip.
WENDY: Mid-afternoon nap? Figures. I can pick you guys up from the bus stop. How far out are you?
MYSTERY TWINS HOTLINE: 15-20 minutes.
WENDY: I'll leave now. See you soon!
"Next stop Gravity Falls," came the announcement over the loudspeaker. Moments later, the bus began to slow, and the rumble of the engine and wheels was replaced by a piercing squeal of the brakes. Mabel covered her ears, visibly annoyed. A short moment later, the driver applied the brakes again, forcefully this time, bringing the bus to a complete stop.
The overhead lights clicked on, prompting a general groan from the tired and sleeping passengers with destinations further east. Dipper and Mabel collected their luggage and scattered belongings and departed the bus as quickly as they could.
Unlike Piedmont, central Oregon became very cold in the winter. Immediately after stepping off the bus, the twins found themselves severely unprepared for the weather. A light dusting of snow was falling, carried by a sharp wind that carried through their light jackets directly to their bones. Behind them, the sliding door pulled shut, and the bus departed off into the twilight leaving the sole streetlight above the bus stop the only source of light Dipper and Mabel could see.
As Dipper walked toward the bus stop bench, he plunged one of his tennis shoes directly into a puddle of snow and sleet. He cried out in shock and looked down to see his foot was soaked.
"Aw man," he cried, dismayed. He took a seat on the bench next to Mabel and tried shaking his foot, but it was no use. The water had soaked his socks through the sneakers and wasn't going anywhere. "Hope Wendy's here soon."
Mabel, nearly immobile from the cold just nodded, looking down.
Thankfully, a pair of headlights appeared down the road, the illumination growing in intensity until an old, rusted pickup truck was idling in front of Dipper and Mabel. The passenger window rolled down, revealing Wendy behind the wheel.
"Bro, what are you doing in a windbreaker?" Wendy called out, her voice making no effort to mask her disapproval. "Get in here before you two freeze to death. And I'm not being dramatic. I'm actually kind of mad at you two."
Wendy put the truck in park and exited, walking around the front to greet the twins. Dipper helped Mabel back to her feet and led her into the truck, while Wendy grabbed their bags and tossed them into the pickup bed. After Mabel was inside, Dipper entered after, pulling the door closed behind him.
When Wendy returned to the cab of the truck, the warmth inside had already caused Mabel to drift back to sleep. She looked over at Dipper, now noticing his wet shoe. She let out an annoyed groan before twisting the controls of her truck's heater to direct hot air directly at Dipper's feet.
"I love you dude, and somehow we made it through the whole summer without this ever being an issue, but this is so Californian of you it hurts." Wendy put her truck in drive, stomped on the gas, and took off down the road. "Please tell me you have winter gear in your bags and just didn't want to wear it on the bus."
"We've got coats, Wendy. And hats. And gloves."
"Boots?" probed Wendy.
"I think Mabel does. I didn't bring any," Dipper admitted. Wendy frowned.
"I don't want to be a huge jerk right as you come back to Gravity Falls, but man, I've seen my dad's friends lose stuff to the cold. Fingers. Toes. Ears. It's serious."
"I'm sorry, Wendy."
Wendy drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, making a noise of displeasure. "Let's start over, okay?" she asked, offering Dipper an apologetic grin. "How're things?"
Before he responded, he looked down at Mabel. The wonderful thing about being Mabel's twin was that when Dipper was unhappy, she would drop everything and focus on bringing him back up. The downside, Dipper had found, was that she did so even at the expense of her own happiness and well-being. After confirming his sister was soundly asleep, he turned back to Wendy.
"Things… could be better," Dipper began.
"Yeesh, that bad, huh?"
The switch in Wendy's voice from 'angrily protective' to her signature relaxed and laid back tone sent the signal to Dipper's brain that he was finally in friendly company. Dipper found himself pouring out everything that had happened since he left. It had started slow, with just some of the dumb things that had happened in the past week leading up to break. But once Dipper started, he couldn't stop.
Suddenly he was recounting all the days he spent at school trying and failing to fit in. All the anxious feelings as he imagined the eyes of his peers watching and mocking him. The nights he spent on the internet reading about abnormalities in order to try and convince himself that the summer had in fact happened.
"What, you thought all the shiz we went through didn't happen?" asked Wendy, suddenly sounding concerned.
"Not literally, you know?" Dipper clarified. "I know everything was real. But when the average day became so… different, it started to feel more like summer was a really great dream I had just woken up from."
"School sucks, man. You know on some level that none of it matters, but when it's your daily life, you get sucked up into the drama and the day-to-day horror of it. It doesn't matter if it's real or not, you're stuck there."
"Wow, Wendy," Dipper replied, "That's pretty much exactly how I feel."
"I know because I'm feeling it right now too. Some idiot registrar calls me 'Boyderoy' by accident when I'm signing up for classes, suddenly that's not just my name, but my entire identity. I get you, Pines," she added, her vocal fry becoming more pronounced as she opened up. "Anyway, the point I was getting to is that summer did happen, people up here care about you, and who cares what anyone down there thinks. You're one of us, even if the crushing reality around you makes you feel like you're not."
Before Dipper could say another word, Wendy took a hard left turn at a promotional sign for the Mystery Shack.
"I was going to meet you guys at the Shack. The original plan was for us all to meet you there to welcome you back before heading up to the Northwest Lodge tomorrow morning."
"That sounds really nice, Wendy," said Dipper. After spilling all the pent-up feelings about his loneliness, nothing sounded better to Dipper than a welcome back party with his friends and Grunkles.
"Though I'll be curious to know why Ford didn't offer to pick you guys up after Stan dropped the ball," she added. Dipper shook his head.
"He couldn't come to get us even if he wanted to. He doesn't have a license. After 30 years of living in the multiverse and seeing realities where public transit was actually funded and worked well, he pretty much decided he hated cars when he came back." Having lived his whole life in a suburb of Oakland, Dipper couldn't exactly understand his Grunkle Ford's disgust for cars. But that was classic Ford - staking out a position and holding it at all costs. The older Pines twins were a stubborn pair.
"Huh. Weird."
"Speaking of the Northwest Lodge, have you been up there yet now that it's finished?"
"Nah, I've been waiting to explore it with you two," replied Wendy. "I didn't even get to see much when I was working with my dad. The Northwests wanted everything to be a surprise for the opening. Seems like the mystery of what they were doing helped boost the opening gala, and it's been the talk of the town ever since."
The truck struck a large dip in the dirt road. Between Wendy and Dipper, Mabel sat up abruptly. "I'm awake!" she yelled. Wendy laughed.
"Good, because we're here," replied Wendy. The familiar shape of the Mystery Shack came into view through the windshield, now hidden under the veil of winter. The 'S' from the roof-mounted sign had fallen ages ago, but now the even discoloration on the shingles couldn't be seen, making the old tourist trap, officially, the "Mystery Hack." Icicles descended from the roof, some so long and large that they nearly touched the ground.
"It's so magical!" cooed Mabel.
"Soos really needs to do something about those before someone gets hurt," Wendy muttered. "Anyway, you feeling better?"
"Yeah," Dipper replied, "better than I've felt in a long time." Mabel turned to Dipper and smirked. Frowning, he poked her face, prompting a "bleph" noise in response.
The homecoming of the Mystery Twins had been a wonderful time. Soos and Melody played host, providing an elaborate spread of snack foods and Pitt Cola-based cocktails. Eventually, Stan had woken up and, with some chiding from Wendy, apologized for not picking up Dipper and Mabel.
"I'm sorry, you guys. Turns out trying to keep up with Ford's schedule means I'm up at night and asleep in the afternoon. Even now, he's off reading some weird sonic waves he's been picking up around town instead of hanging out here." Stan scratched the point where his fez met his hair, sitting in his usual lounge seat. While his original Shriner fez now belonged to Soos, at some point he had clearly picked up another one. Old habits die hard. "He did say he's glad you're back and is looking forward to catching up, by the way," he added quickly. The rest of the group sat scattered across the couch or on the floor. That is, everyone but Soos. Soos stood on top of a ladder, sticking a screwdriver inside a ceiling fan. Melody watched him work with a hint of frustration.
"That's okay Grunkle Stan," Mabel replied, "I get the same way when I have to stay up with Dipper doing some weird nerd thing." Dipper sheepishly looked down. He felt a playful punch on his arm and turned to see Wendy.
"But if he wasn't doing weird nerd things, would he really be Dipper?" Wendy grinned. She turned to Soos, still standing on his ladder next to the fan. "You going to join us, Soos?"
"Literally, he's been at this for hours," teased Melody.
"Dudes, I know. But I've been trying to get this fan working for days now," he replied, frustrated and determined.
"Why don't you just call for help with repairs?" Dipper asked.
"Repair contractors are even bigger con men than I am," Stan scoffed.
"Besides," Soos continued, "There's like, three appliance repair guys in town, and they all looked at it, and none of them could fix it."
"I guess it's hard to get good fan service in Gravity Falls," Wendy mused, scratching her head. Mabel laughed and nodded. Suddenly, her pocket buzzed and sang out. As she opened the text, her eyes widened and a grin spread across her face.
"Ohh ho ho," Mabel laughed to herself, looking up at Dipper. Having been getting this reaction from Mabel all night whenever he and Wendy spoke, he sighed in frustration.
"What now, Mabel?"
"I've had it wrong all night, I know who you really want to talk to," she teased. Dipper raised an eyebrow, confused. Mabel tossed the phone across the couch to Dipper, who reluctantly looked down.
PACIFICA: Hey Dipper, you in town yet?
Dipper froze. Ever since his ghost hunting experience at Northwest Manor, and in a few other encounters since, he felt as if he had a secret view into a version of Pacifica that no one else was allowed to see. Underneath the exterior persona crafted from years of overbearing parenting and oppressive wealth, there was a normal, fun-loving, caring Pacifica that wasn't yet on view for the rest of the world.
But he had never really considered that to be a sign she wanted to date him. To Dipper, she was someone suffocating under the weight of expectation, and he was just the first person to try and lift off some of her heavy burden. Besides, after his experience over the summer of crushing on Wendy, he was incredibly reluctant to view any of his friends as potential relationships again. Especially considering the distance that would eventually be involved between his home and Gravity Falls. Dipper looked back to Mabel, her face beaming back at him. "Well?" she asked.
Wendy looked over Dipper's shoulder. "Who is she shipping you with this time?" He attempted to hide the phone from her but was too slow. "Pacifica Northwest, huh? I can see it."
"You can WHAT?" Dipper turned now to Wendy, incredulous. Oh great, he thought, now there were two of them.
Wendy shrugged, "I ran into her a bunch this summer. She's been working at Greasy's as a waitress. She was always nice to the gang when we went. But maybe that's just her customer service voice and I'm projecting here."
Dipper blinked as he attempted to register what Wendy just told him. Namely, that she used the words 'greasy', 'waitress', and 'customer service' when talking about Pacifica Northwest. Not because he thought she'd think herself above any of those things, that was a given. But mainly because none of that ever came up in the many postcards the two of them exchanged over the fall.
"She never mentioned that in any of the postcards she sent Dipper," Mabel noted before stuffing a handful of pretzels into her mouth. Dipper whipped around again, this time to his sister.
"You read my mail?!"
"What can I say, I wanted to know how everyone was doing. You weren't the only one missing Gravity Falls. I didn't mean to be a snoop about it, I just didn't expect her to send you so many."
"Oh man, how many did she send?" asked Wendy, taking a sip from the drink in her hand.
"It got to about one a week eventually,"
"Nice going, Dipper," Wendy punched Dipper's arm. "She's crushing hard, guarantee it."
Dipper placed two fingers to his temple, attempting to push down his frustration. "Anyone else want to chime in on my personal life?"
"You know dude," said Soos, completely misreading Dipper's sarcasm, "I think you have the tendency to take things a bit too seriously sometimes. Just my opinion." Soos twisted his screwdriver again until a click responded from inside the fan. Slowly, the blades began to spin. "Hey hey! How's that for fan service?"
As the evening wound down, and Wendy and Grunkle Stan departed, Dipper and Mabel returned to the attic bedroom where they had spent the summer.
"I kept it the way it was for when you dudes came back," Soos told them, before saying goodnight and departing.
The twins pulled a few things from their bags, but since they were going to be moving on to luxury accommodations at the Northwest ski lodge the next night, they didn't fully unpack. "I hope mom and dad are making sure Waddles is having a good holiday too," she said, largely to herself as she pulled a toothbrush from her bag.
"Are you kidding? That pig is as much dad's pet as yours at this point," Dipper retorted. It was true, while their parents hadn't exactly been thrilled to suddenly have a farm animal living in their suburban home, Waddles had won them over with overwhelming cuteness. Their dad was especially weak to his charms.
As Dipper pulled up the bedsheets and prepared to try and sleep, he sent one last text message on the shared phone. Mabel walked over to his side of the attic and sat down. Her eyes immediately fell on the phone, and she couldn't help but immediately speculate on what Dipper and Pacifica had chatted about since her message arrived earlier this evening.
But she had come over to her brother with a purpose, and it wasn't to invade his privacy again.
"Wanna talk, bro-bro?" Mabel offered kindly.
"Talk about what?" Dipper turned to his sister. She was smiling faintly, but he could tell something was bothering her.
"Maybe about me reading your mail. Or trying to matchmake you up with our friends. Or," she hesitated for a moment, almost as if she wasn't sure she wanted to keep going at all, "maybe about the stuff you were telling Wendy in the truck."
"I thought you were asleep."
"Yeah, I sorta was. Kinda drifted in and out. But it wasn't anything new, Dipper. It's not a secret that you hate home now."
Dipper shook his head. "I don't hate home, Mabel. It's just…" he trailed off. As much as he'd like to have an alternate explanation ready to go, he had nothing. He didn't hate home. It just didn't feel like home anymore.
"It's not here," Mabel finished Dipper's sentence. Dipper nodded. "But guess what? We're back now! And there's one thing I'm not going to let you do while we're here."
"What's that?"
"No wasting any time in Gravity Falls feeling sad about going home. That goes for both of us. We're here, there are friends to see, adventures to have, and we're going to squeeze every happy moment we can out of our winter break. Deal?"
Mabel extended her hand out to Dipper. He wasted no time and shook it. "Deal. Thanks, Mabel." His sister beamed widely. Even though Dipper didn't like to feel like he was a drain on Mabel's emotional reserves, it was obvious she found joy in using them to cheer him up. And that was one of the things that he most admired about his sister.
"You know," Dipper wondered aloud, tapping absently at his face, "what do you think the odds are that our parents will get so used to us not being around that we can just stay in Gravity Falls?" He laughed and turned to Mabel, who smirked and raised a single eyebrow.
"You say that like I haven't been setting that up since the summer ended."
"That's true, you have gotten a lot louder lately."
Finger guns drawn, Mabel playfully aimed at her brother.
"All part of the plan, brother. Pew pew!"